1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combined representation display method which links a main display section with a production display section on a display screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among conventional game machines having an image display device employing virtual images, there is a target hitting game machine which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-323037.
The target hitting game machine shows a target image, which is shown on a CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube) display, to the player by superimposing a virtual image on a hitting stand with a mirror image of a hammer held by the player by means of a half mirror.
To play the game, the player proceeds the game while watching the screen of the image display device, swings down the hammer to hit the hitting stand in such a way that the mirror image hammer hits the target images.
When the player hits a target image, an impact sensor detects the hitting action and outputs a signal. According to the output signal, an image control device changes the target image on the CRT display to a hit effect image.
There are also a superimposed image display device, a game device and a bowling game device as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-114221.
The above superimposed image display device superimposes an actual ball and an image ball to show to an observer and has a CRT display for showing an image and a mirror for forming a reflected virtual image of the image.
To play the game, the real ball released by the player rolls along a moving surface to pass through the mirror to reach the back of it.
And, when the real ball passes through the half mirror section of the mirror, the image ball having the same external shape as the real ball appears. Thus, the real ball is replaced by the image ball.
Specifically, after the real ball disappears behind the mirror, the image ball continues moving as a reflected virtual image.
The amusement machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-104311 has a variable display device which is comprised of spinning drums which have special designs formed on their peripheries, drum lamps which can irradiate light to the special designs of the spinning drums, a half mirror which allows visible permeation of the special designs by lighting from the drum lamps, and a projection display mechanism which can project an image to be projected to show it on the half mirror. The projection display mechanism projects character designs to show them as projection images on the half mirror.
By configuring as described above, a mechanical variable display device which can display the character designs in addition to the display of the special designs is provided, and a decorative visual effect is improved.
As described above, the image display device of the target hitting game machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-323037 is a game which is played based on the virtual hammer image and its background image using the half mirror. It is a game showing as an image created on the basis of an actual mole hitting game machine which is generally seen here and there. It simply shows a virtual image and is not configured to make a combination display.
According to the superimposed image display device, the game device and the bowling game device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-114221, when the real ball released by the player disappears behind the mirror, the image ball as the reflected virtual image continues its movement. It has effects of decreasing a space occupied by the game machine and simplifying the device by separately disposing the spatially actual portion and the reflected virtual image portion but is poor in changes and variations of the display because it simply shows the virtual images.
In the amusement machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-104311, the player visually recognizes the special designs of the spinning drums through the half mirror. The projection image is projected onto and shown on the half mirror by superimposing on the special designs on the spinning drums, but the display to the player is mainly based on the special designs on the spinning drums. It is just an addition of the image expression of the virtual images to the peripheries of the special designs on the spinning drums. Thus, it is not particularly described about the combination display of the operations of the spinning drums with the image expression